GoKawiil
Tech News
Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman announced a five-year, $1 billion-plus initiative called Built Together to fund local priorities—education, job training, energy affordability, and water conservation—in towns hosting its data centers. Garman said Amazon will also stop using nondisclosure agreements with government partners and will hold open houses to increase transparency about its facilities.
The US Senate voted 57-43 on September 30, falling three votes short of the 60 needed to advance the Ratepayer Protection Act, killing the bill after it had already passed the House. The legislation, introduced by Senator Jon Husted, would have directed state regulators to consider requiring data centers and other large power consumers to cover the infrastructure costs tied to their energy use.
Microsoft is designing landscaping around some of its data centers that includes public hiking trails and restored waterways, aiming to offset the facilities' environmental footprint. The move comes amid growing local opposition to data centers over their heavy land, energy, and water use, as well as noise complaints that have prompted lawsuits in some communities.
AWS chief Matt Garman published a roughly 3,000-word blog post asking local communities not to block new AI data center projects, comparing the buildout to the post-WWII national highway system. He said over 100 data center moratoriums are under consideration nationwide and argued blocking them would hurt US economic and national security interests, while dismissing concerns about electricity costs and pollution as misinformation, some of it allegedly spread by foreign adversaries.
Microsoft has rolled out a 'biomimicry' landscaping program at more than 20 data center sites in the US and Germany, restoring wetlands, planting native gardens and using plant buffers to muffle noise and reduce visual impact. The company says it uses an internal tool called Ecosystem Intelligence, built on Azure, to score sites on water quality, biodiversity and noise, and has made the approach standard for new US projects.
A growing group of companies, including Google, SpaceX and Nvidia alongside several startups, are exploring placing AI data centers in space. The idea relies on continuous solar power and the vacuum of space for cooling, potentially easing the energy demands of AI computing on Earth.
Starting January 1, data center projects built on qualifying rural land tracts will become eligible for corporate tax incentives under an expanded federal opportunity zone program created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Ways and Means Committee chair Jason Smith said the changes could lower financial barriers for large, capital-intensive projects including hyperscale data centers. The opportunity zone program, first created during the first Trump administration, was broadened last year specifically to draw more investment into rural communities.
AWS CEO Matt Garman wrote in a blog post that Amazon no longer uses nondisclosure agreements when working with government agencies to secure approval for new data centers. The statement comes amid a broader backlash over secrecy in data center development, including activist Erin Brockovich's complaints about officials signing NDAs before communities are informed. Garman also disputed claims that data centers consume excessive water, raise electricity costs, pollute heavily, or fail to benefit local communities.
Amazon unveiled a program called Built Together, committing over $1 billion over five years to communities hosting its data centers. AWS CEO Matt Garman said the funds will target education and job training, energy affordability and water solutions, and flexible local priorities, with residents deciding how money is spent. Amazon says it has already arranged free associate's degree access with community colleges for up to 300,000 students and plans to fund trade certifications for up to 100,000 workers annually.
According to the New York Times, Meta has been classifying its massive data center construction projects as experimental 'pilot models' under a decades-old R&D tax credit, allowing it to claim billions in federal tax savings. The company reportedly saved $2 billion in 2024 and nearly $4 billion in its 2025 fiscal year, making it the largest known beneficiary of the credit among public companies, per securities filings cited by the Times.
Public opposition to data center construction, initially concentrated in the US, is now affecting projects across Europe and parts of Asia. STL Partners research cited by CNBC estimates roughly $42 billion in European data center investment has already faced delays or cancellations, compared with about $77 billion in the US. The European Data Center Monitor counted more than 70 rejected or restricted projects between January and April 2025, exceeding all of 2024.
Amazon announced it will donate more than $1 billion over five years to communities near its data centers, letting residents direct funds toward education, job training, energy affordability and water initiatives. AWS CEO Matt Garman also pledged the company won't raise local power bills or deplete water supplies, claiming 75 percent of projects already meet a 2030 'water positive' goal. Garman argued that opposition to data centers risks letting China overtake the US in AI development.